Foot protector attachment for shoes



/Q' d .-Zh William swim/- Jan. 15, 1963 w. K. swn'zER y 3,073,043

FOOT PROTECTOR ATTACHMENT FOR sROEs Filed Sept. 14, 1962 INVENTOR.

T 2,2/ A %M4Wr1% United States Patent O 3,073,043 FOOT PROTECTOR ATTACHMENT FOR SHOES William K. Switzer, Green Township, Hamilton County, Ohio (5703 Spruce Wood Drive, Cincinnati 39Ohio) Filed Sept. 14, 1962, Ser. No. 223,674 3 Claims. (Cl. 36-72) The present invention relates to shoe attachments and is particularly directed to a toe guard and a cooperative shoe mounting means therefor that can be readily secured to a pair lof partially worn street shoes to thus protect the toes and the feet of an operator from lthe moving blades of a rotary power lawn mower.

Many accidental foot injuries have resulted from the operation of rotary power mowers because operators inadvertently get their feet'beneath the rotating blades therefor. Generally lawn mowing is done in a pair of cast off or worn street shoes which serve as ideal work shoes for the purpose. It is therefore the principal object of this invention to provide a toe guard device that may be detachably connected to a pair of work shoes prior to the operation 'ice nected to the forepart 11 of the sole 12 of a work shoe and each device consists of a bracket 13 stamped of metal and generally U-shaped in lateral section. This bracket has a rectangular, planar central wall 14 and a pair of opposed, narrow side walls 15 and 16 which depend at right angles from opposite sides of the central wall 14.

The side walls terminate in llat flanges 17 and 18, re-y spectively, which project at right angles from the side walls and which extend from the bracket in opposed lateral directions, the anges lying in a plane that is parallel and offset with respect to the plane of the central wall 14. A number of holes 19 (FIG. 5) are formed through the anges 17 and 18 and are adapted to receive screws of a power mower and which may be removed from the shoes when the mowing job is concluded, such device including a mounting bracket adapted for permanent attachment to the forepart of the sole of each of a pair of shoes and a toe guard bar having a detachable connection with each bracket.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a toe guard device having the foregoing characteristics a toe guard mount secured on the forepart of the shoe sole which serves as a permanent anti-slip ground gripping means for the shoes.

A further object of this invention is to provide a foot protector that may be readily attached to a pair of partially worn work shoes in a minimumof time by unskilled persons thus providing protection of the toes and feet of the wearer while operating a rotary power mower and which has a toe guard bar that is readily removable from the shoes upon completion of a grass mowing job so that the shoes may be worn for other work purposes.

Still further objects of the invention are to provide a light weight, inconspicuons toe guard construction that may be manufactured at low cost and which is susceptible of packaging as a small hardware item and which'is both dependable and rugged when mounted on a pair of work shoes.

The foregoing and various other objects and advantages of this invention will be understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof, the same being shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. l is a perspective view of my foot protector attachment shown in operative position on la work shoe.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmental side elevational view of my foot protector attachment shown adjacent a power mower, the shoe mounted bracket therefor being shown in central section.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the toe guard bar of this invention.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the toe guard bar shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. is a plan view of the cooperable bracket for the attachment shown in FIGS. l-4.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the bracket shown in FIG. 5.

With reference to the drawing the numeral indicates one of a pair of street shoes that is somewhat worn and scutfed but which is susceptible of utilization by the wearer for outside work and commonly referred to as a work shoe and which is so called throughout the speciiication. My foot protector device is detachably con- 20 to permanently mount the bracket 13 on the forepart of the shoe sole. It will thus be seen that thebracket may be readily and permanently secured to each one of a pair of work shoes by an unskilled person and that when so secured affords a through-mounting slot which is open at both its ends and is formed by a portion of the shoe sole, the central wall 14 an-d the opposed side walls 1S and 1-6. As indicated in FIG. 2 of the drawings the bracket projects downwardly from the sole of the shoe and provides a good ground gripping, anti slipping device for the useful life of the shoe.

Cooperable rwith the shoe sole mounted bracket 14 is an L-shaped toe guard bar 22 consisting of a substantially straight upstanding guard portion 23 and a mounting portion 24 integrally connected to the upstanding portion and disposed at an angle thereto. The mounting portion has a substantially flat outer end and is connected to the straight toe guard portion 23 by a long curved portion 25 and a short curved portion 26. A hole 27 is formed through the at mounting portion 26 and a slot 28 is formed in the flat portion between the hole 27 and the outer edge of the at wall portion so that the flat wall may be spread outwardly to provide a laterally extended edge 29 that forms a good detachable connection between the mounting portion of the bar and the bracket.

My toe protector device is susceptible of sale in a small package including therein as hardware a pair of brackets, four mounting screws and a pair of toe guard bars. To convert a pair of partially worn and scuffed street shoes to a work shoe having my toe guard attachment thereon it is only necessary to screw a bracket to the toes of the pair of shoes in the position illustrated in FIG. l of the drawing. Then lwhen it becomes necessary to mow the lawn th-e toe guard bars 23 are merely inserted into the brackets and the lawn mowed and at linish thereof said toev guard bars can be removed and the shoes used for other outside or rough work. The attached bracket is self cleaning in that if mud or ldirt becomes imbedded in the slot 21, insertion of the toe guard bar in the bracket will clean out the slot without impairing the mounting functions thereof.

With particular reference to FIG. 2 it will be seen that the forepart of the sole of work shoes are permanently curved upwardly due to continued and hard usage and I have therefore provided an intermediate long curve portion 25 and a short curve portion 26 between the mounting portion 24 and the upstanding portion 23 of the toe guard bar 22 so that the intermediate portion will conform to the permanent deformation of the forepart of the shoe sole and thus insure a good connection between the mounting portion of the bar and the bracket.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated it in the accompanying drawings, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A toe guard attachment comprising a mounting bracket adapted to be secured to the forepart of a shoe sole and having a central wall, a pair of opposed side walls and a mounting ange projecting laterally from each sidewall, the top wall, side walls and shoe sole portion forming an open ended slot at the forepart portionof the shoe sole, an L-shaped toe guard bar having an upstanding portion and amounting portion angularly disposed With; respect to the'upstanding portion, said mounting portion being adapted to be slidably engaged in the Vsaid slot, and a laterally acting means on the mounting portion of the bar cooperable with the slot to detachably secure the barto the bracket.

2. A toe guard attachment as set forth in claim 1 `wherein lthe laterally acting means consists of an inclined slot formed in the edge of the mounting portion of the bar, a part of the mounting portion being sprung laterally from the body thereof to engage against the side wall of the bracket.

3. A foot protector attachment for Work shoes comprising a mounting bracket adapted to be secured to the forepart of a shoe sole rearwardly of the front tip thereof,-

said bracket having a planar central wall, a pair of opposed parallel side walls Vand a mounting flange projecting 20 2804700 laterally from each side wall, said anges lying in a plane offset with respect to the planar top wall of the bracket, the

top wall, side Walls and shoe sole portion forming an openended slot at the forepart of the shoe sole, a generally L-shaped toe guard bar having an upstanding portion, a at mounting portion angularly disposed relative to the upstanding portion and an intermediate portion comprising a long curved portion and a short curved portion, said mounting portion of the toe guard having the configuration of the slot and adapted to be slidably engaged in said slot, and a lateral projection on the mounting portion of the bar cooperable with the sides of the slot to detachably secure the bar to the bracket.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,107,667 Hermson Feb. 8, 1938 2,220,291 Savoy Nov. 5, 1940 HoltKamp et al. Sept. 3, 1957 

1. A TOE GUARD ATATCHMENT COMPRISING A MOUNTING BRACKET ADAPTED TO BE SECURED TO THE FOREPART OF A SHOE SOLE AND HAVING A CENTRAL WALL, A PAIR OF OPPOSED SIDE WALLS AND A MOUNTING FLANGE PROJECTING LATERALLY FROM EACH SIDE WALL, THE TOP WALL, SIDE WALLS AND SHOE SOLE PORTION FORMING AN OPEN ENDED SLOT AT THE FOREPART PORTION OF THE SHOE SOLE, AN L-SHAPED TOE GUARD BAR HAVING AN UPSTANDING PORTION AND A MOUNTING PORTION ANGULARLY DISPOSED WITH RESPECT TO THE UPSTANDING PORTION, SAID MOUNTING PORTION BEING ADAPTED TO BE SLIDABLY ENGAGED IN THE SAID SLOT, AND A LATERALLY ACTING MEANS ON THE MOUNTING PORTION OF THE BAR COOPERABLE WITH THE SLOT TO DETACHABLY SECURE THE BAR TO THE BRACKET. 